We need to fund bombing prevention

By Robert P. Liscouski, Special to CNN

Updated 5:45 AM ET, Wed April 24, 2013

Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers45 photos

Manhunt for Boston bombers – Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is detained by officers on Friday, April 19. After a car chase and shootout with police, one suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was shot and killed by police early Friday, and his brother and second suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was taken into custody Friday night. The two men are suspects in the bombings at the Boston Marathon on April 15, that killed three people and wounded at least 170. See all photography related to the Boston bombings.

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Manhunt for Boston bombers – Special imaging techniques employed by Massachusetts State Police reveal Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev hiding in a boat in a backyard in Watertown on April 19.

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Manhunt for Boston bombers – Dzhokhar Tsarnaev gets out of the boat he was hiding in outside of a home in Watertown, as seen in a surveillance video still.

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Manhunt for Boston bombers – An ambulance carries Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, from the scene after he was apprehended in Watertown, Massachusetts, on April 19.

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Manhunt for Boston bombers – Police SWAT teams leave the area after apprehending the suspect in a yard where he was hiding in a dry-docked boat on April 19.

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Manhunt for Boston bombers – Residents flee from an area where a suspect was hiding on Franklin Street on April 19.

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Manhunt for Boston bombers – SWAT team members run toward a police assault on a house as gunfire erupts on April 19.

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Manhunt for Boston bombers – People react while watching police respond to reported gunfire on April 19.

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Manhunt for Boston bombers – SWAT team members move down residential streets as they perform door-to-door searches in Watertown, Massachusetts, on April 19.

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Manhunt for Boston bombers – A U.S. military helicopter lands behind Watertown Mall as law enforcement agencies continue to search for the 19-year-old bombing suspect on Friday.

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Manhunt for Boston bombers – SWAT teams prepare to enter a home as they continue the door-to-door search.

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Manhunt for Boston bombers – U.S. President Barack Obama meets with members of his national security team in the Situation Room of the White House on April 19 to discuss developments in the Boston bombings investigation.

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Manhunt for Boston bombers – SWAT team members line a residential street in Watertown, Massachusetts, as the manhunt continues on Friday.

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Manhunt for Boston bombers – A man watches from the window of a home as a SWAT team member keeps watch on Friday, in Watertown, Massachusetts.

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Manhunt for Boston bombers – Police to continue to the door-to-door search on Francis Street in Watertown, Massachusetts, on Friday.

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Manhunt for Boston bombers – Law enforcement officers place themselves in an overhead position on Arsenal Street as the search continues on April 19.

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Manhunt for Boston bombers – Law enforcement officers react to what was initially thought to be a threatening suspect on Arsenal Street on April 19.

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Manhunt for Boston bombers – A police SWAT team searches houses on April 19 for the second suspect.

Manhunt for Boston bombers – A Massachusetts state trooper watches other troopers line up at Watertown Mall as the manhunt for the second suspect continues in Watertown on Friday.

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Manhunt for Boston bombers – Police continue the ongoing manhunt for the second suspect on Williow Avenue in Watertown on Friday.

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Manhunt for Boston bombers – A Watertown police vehicle with bullet holes in its body and a shattered windshield is towed out of the search area on April 19 in Watertown, Massachusetts.

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Manhunt for Boston bombers – A Massachusetts State Police officer checks the bag of a cyclist amid heightened security on Friday in Watertown.

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Manhunt for Boston bombers – Katia Costa looks out her window as police continue the manhunt on Nichols Avenue in Watertown on Friday.

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Manhunt for Boston bombers – Ruslan Tsarni, uncle of the Boston terror suspects, told CNN affiliate WBZ that Tamerlan "got what he deserved" in an interview outside his home in Montgomery Village, Maryland, on Friday.

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Manhunt for Boston bombers – A woman is questioned by Cambridge police and other law enforcement agencies Friday near the home of the second suspect in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus police officer was shot and killed late Thursday night at the school's campus in Cambridge. A short time later, police reported exchanging gunfire with alleged carjackers in nearby Watertown.

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Manhunt for Boston bombers – SWAT teams move into position at the intersection of Nichols and Melendy avenues in Watertown, Massachusetts, on Friday.

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Manhunt for Boston bombers – SWAT teams gather at the intersection of Nichols and Melendy avenues in Watertown while searching for the remaining suspect on Friday.

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Manhunt for Boston bombers – Onlookers take pictures while SWAT team members look around on Friday.

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Manhunt for Boston bombers – Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, left, speaks to the media at a shopping mall on the perimeter of a locked-down area during the search on Friday.

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Manhunt for Boston bombers – Metro SWAT members hang off the back of a truck during the search on Friday.

Story highlights

Robert Liscouski: Improvised explosive devices are one of the biggest threats to the U.S.

Liscouski: How can we prevent attacks like the marathon bombing?

He says one way is to increase the budget for the Office of Bombing Prevention

Liscouski: The resources will help train those who are on the front line of defense

The bombing of the Boston Marathon has been described by some as another wake-up call. Regrettably, it seems we've hit the snooze button too many times to say that this time we've really woken up.

Our vulnerability to attacks such as the one at the marathon has been well known for some time. We have long been concerned that attackers would focus on soft targets in which many people gather in open and easily accessible areas. Moreover, these targets lack the sophisticated security measures that one would find at a chemical plant or federal building.

Improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, are one of the biggest threats to the United States. The bombs used in the Boston Marathon cost less than $100 to make from materials that can be commonly purchased and with instructions found on the Internet.

Lt. Gen. Michael Barbero, director of the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization at the Department of Defense, stated in his July 2012 testimony before the U.S. House of Representative Homeland Security Committee that: "It is clear the IED is the primary weapon of choice for threat networks globally and is one of the enduring operational and domestic security challenges for the foreseeable future. ... The domestic IED threat from both homegrown extremists and global threat networks is real and presents a significant security challenge for the United States and our international partners."

Robert P. Liscouski

The Boston Police Department was about as well prepared to address this threat as any police department could be. Boston has had a number of high profile events in the past years to be ready for unexpected events. The city has received millions of dollars in Homeland Security grants and the police force recently conducted a DHS sponsored multijurisdiction IED training program.

Still, at least two suspects were able to exploit the vulnerability of the marathon. The important questions now are not just who was responsible for the attack, but how can we prevent similar attacks?

We have to concede that it takes money and resources to prevent and fight attacks. But it's harder in this belt-tightening time.

For example, the budget for the Office of Bombing Prevention, a Department of Homeland Security office charged with the mission of leading the department's "efforts to implement the National Policy for Countering Improvised Explosive Devices and enhance the nation's ability to prevent, protect against, respond to, and mitigate the terrorist use of explosives ...," has had its budget cut or reallocated with rumors of further cuts in 2014.

To be fair, the Office of Bombing Prevention isn't the only federal entity that deals with IEDs. The Transportation Security Administration, FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives all have efforts aimed at helping the private sector and law enforcement agencies prevent IED attacks. However, the Office of Bombing Prevention has an important mission of enhancing counter-IED capabilities through coordination of bombing prevention efforts. Rather than cutting its budget, we should increase it.

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Barbero's department requested a $1.9 billion budget for 2013. It is a highly effective organization that saved many lives through the use of intelligence, technology and equipment in Afghanistan and Iraq. Now that we have withdrawn from Iraq and will be doing so from Afghanistan, we should reallocate some of those resources to focus on domestic threats and to prevent attacks at home.

IEDs are a low-cost high-consequence type of weapon that will take significant financial and personnel resources to defeat. The alternative will be the loss of more lives and millions of dollars in investigative and recovery efforts if more attacks happen.

We need to increase the Office of Bombing Prevention budget so we can train state and local law enforcement and private sector security, because they are the front line in our defense.

Above all, we should never submit to the fear that deranged minds may attempt to instill in us. The people of this country are too strong and resilient to ever cower before acts of terrorism.